TGS 2005: Mistwalker is Unreal

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Startup RPG maker turns to Epic's new engine.

By Anoop Gantayat

The Unreal 3 engine is everywhere these days, even, it seems, in the mind of the man who created Final Fantasy. Hironobu Sakaguchi revealed today that Lost Odyssey, one of the two role playing games his startup studio has in development for the Xbox 360, will make use of Epic's popular next generation engine.

This news should come as no surprise given the nature of Lost Odyssey's development. Mistwalker, a company with about 10 people, has entrusted new developer Feel Plus, a company of over 100, with all the dirty work for Lost Odyssey. Feel Plus was formed in part with Microsoft, and given that connection, as well as the popularity the Unreal 3 engine seems to be having overall even amongst Japanese developers, and we'd actually have been more surprised if the game didn't use the engine.

Blue Dragon, Mistwalker's other Xbox 360 game, is one such title that doesn't use Epic's technology. Developer Artoon has created its own engine just for that game, Sakaguchi confirmed today.

IGN was actually given a chance to get a quick look at both Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon at the company's Tokyo studio today. We'll have details on both titles, including a Q&A with Sakaguchi himself, shortly.